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EdTech is where the Right and the Left Merge in Education

Politically, EdTech is where the Right (Republicans) and the Left (Democrats) merge on Education Reform.

And, our kids are the guinea pigs for their Public/Private Partnerships. School Choice is how they reach every Student in Traditional and Charter Public Schools along with Private and homeschool students from Pre-School through the workforce.
Previously, in America, your past did not determine your future.

In America, we have a history of great prosperity and innovation, because, in America, we have valued an education of opportunity (Equal Opportunity), based on an individual’s freedom and their ability to achieve great things.

In the past, in America, we had a Kindergarten through the 12th-grade education system that valued individuals rights. And, we valued giving all students a solid knowledge-based foundation in reading, writing, math, and history; so as an adult, that individual is free to succeed, and, free to fail, and then learn from that failure and still go on to do great things.

But, things have changed in America.

I was reminded today that what is causing the left and right side of the political aisle to come together on Education Reform is CONTROL, and the financial gain from EdTech; their greatest commodity for profit and control is data.

All these people, (whether they know it or not), are leading America and our children to the same end game. In this new age of Artificial Intelligence, (AI) is being used to turn our children’s minds into a new form of capital, via predictive analytics technology. Predictive analytics uses mined education data to create software programs that have the ability to predict and modify the behaviors of ALL students. Students, who are the next generation of Americans, are now seen as an investment vehicle, a product, to be managed via Total Quality Management (TQM) for a globally controlled workforce, in a globally controlled economy.

“It would seem that our current condition is light years away from the terror systems of Nazism and Communism. However, we can see that our freedom is becoming ever more constricted.

There is no terror-wielding police or secret service system, but thanks to digital data storage, we all live in glass houses, where there is no private nook or cranny left. This is a prerequisite for completely new forms of totalitarian monitoring and control.”

EdTech online digital learning, mandated by the state, via the Next Generation of Assessments and Accountability, mandated federally, via the Every Student Succeeds Act, is their access point, giving them the ability to modify our children’s attitudes values beliefs and behaviors.

In 2001 – The controversial No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is approved by Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush on January 8, 2002. The law, which reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 and replaced the Bilingual Education Act of 1968, mandates high-stakes student testing, holds schools accountable for student achievement levels and provides penalties for schools that do not make adequate yearly progress toward meeting the goals of NCLB.

In 2002 the federal government began the Statewide Longitudinal Data System grant program to offer grants to states that agreed to build their student data systems according to federal dictates (20 U.S.C. § 9501 et seq).

In 2009, the federal Stimulus package, which Texas received 18+ million dollars, required the construction of particular data systems in exchange for the money from the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund. P. 171

In 2012, the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) was gutted, and no longer protected our children’s data from almost unlimited sharing. Under the new regulatory interpretation, the U.S. Department of Education (USED) (and in fact state departments of education) may disclose personally identifiable student data to literally anyone in the world, as long as the disclosing agency uses the correct language to justify its action.

In July 2014, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). which provided the wrapping of K-12 education into a workforce development system binding all students. Nominally led by the states, this emphasis goes to regulations pushed by both the federal Department of Labor and Education. In this WIOA document, take special note of page 6; “it is important to review state legislation and identify areas that may conflict with WIOA to develop plans and strategies that resolve these conflicts. When state and federal laws conflict, federal laws take precedence.”

As shown here, it clearly states databases developed through the Workforce Initiative (WDQI) and Statewide Longitudinal Data System Grants are “required” to be linked at the individual level making it Personally Identifiable.

In December 2015, Congress reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) replacing No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and is now known as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) found here. As Rep. Tim Ryan, Ohio stated (video here), this is the “New Common Core,” while he was debating the Every Student Succeed Act (ESSA) is about character traits, not academics. ESSA Violations found here.

In 2019, Congress passed the Foundation for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act (FEPA) (H.R. 4174) which creates a federal database containing data from every federal agency on every citizen and access to that information will be through D.C. BUREAUCRATIC APPROVAL; FEPA puts Student Privacy, Parental Consent, and Citizen’s Data Confidentiality Rights in jeopardy under the guise of transparency, open government, and the claim that it will make for better decisions by lawmakers. Here are some important details from a summary and a rebuttal prepared by groups who opposed FEPA.

As noted by Moira Dolan, M.D., during the Senate Committee hearing on SB 10; “SB 10 continues the trend of taking the complex field of human relations, and putting it into a tiny bio-medical box; because it is a medical approach. This bill calls for academic medical centers to be the central figures in the proposed consortium and medical centers offer medical solutions. Not social, not economical, not skill enhancement or character development; and the medical solution for mental health problems is one thing right now, and that is medication.” Video link here:

Violations

Data Tracking: Collection of PII (Personally Identifiable Information) on babies, children, and teachers identified with a unique national ID, contracted by Institute for Educational Sciences, NCES/IES, in compliance with Obama’s Executive Order 12866 expanding state longitudinal data systems to collect and share personally identifiable data on our children.

Data Trafficking: States Release Personally Identifiable Information, PII, to 3rd Party Contractors: State Departments of Education are able to enter into written agreements with businesses, foundations, higher education, and other Departments, releasing PII because of the loopholes in FERPA, (Family Education Rights and Privacy Act) that redefine school officials. Personally Identifiable Information, “womb to workforce” data, is freely given to 3rd party contractors through written agreements contracted by each state DOE.

Treatment, Interventions, Psychological Abuse: ESSA, Every Student Succeeds Act, mandates PII collected on attitudes, values, beliefs, and dispositions (grit) carried out by IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act). All students, birth through college-aged students are identified under Title I for social, emotional, and behavioral change, Child Find. Techniques defined in ESSA include behavioral interventions: Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports, Response To Intervention, Multi-Tiered System Of Supports, Universal Design For Learning. The NCES/IES monitors and evaluates compliance, and experimental research through a unique national ID of children and teachers alike.

Privacy Violations: Exchange and Re-Disclosure of PII continues, including data collected on attitudes, values, beliefs, and dispositions, without the knowledge or consent of parents. Directory information is cross-referenced with behavioral data collected on the local level. Privacy protections have been removed. Data, the new currency uses children as a commodity. These blatant data mining violations are child abuse.

Violations of the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment, PPRA: Violations under Title I school-wide through the use of psychiatric, psychological examination, assessment, evaluation, or testing; Psychiatric or psychological treatment/interventions deceptively used in classrooms without the knowledge, disclosure, or written permission of parents.

Civil Rights Violations: Interventions, treatment, and re-education of attitudes, values, dispositions, and beliefs of children are profound violations of 1st Amendment protections of our God-given right to “right of conscience” and the 4th Amendment protection of our God-given right “to be secure in their persons.”

Public Law 103-33, General Education Provisions Act, Sec 438: Federal Government is supervising and directing curriculum creating a “model national curriculum” and a national test. NCES/IES evaluates and monitors students, teachers, funding, principals, schools, districts, and states for mental health data.

Malpractice and Maltreatment of Children and Babies by Teachers and Preschool Caregivers: Teachers/preschool caregivers, (exceeding their professional certifications), are required to screen, evaluate, perform anecdotal behavioral assessments, conditioning, and implement psychological remediation of the child’s attitudes, values, beliefs, and dispositions called social, emotional learning to comply with global initiatives under ESSA. These interventions are screened by teachers as mental health disabilities through fidelity (Do it right-techniques.) are now called “implementation science.” Standards defined by Department of Labor SCANS Report, create the process of “supply-chain management to humans.” This Social and Emotional Learning system sets up schools to begin coding mental health interventions in the classrooms of America for Medicaid reimbursements.